1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector which is used for, e.g., an eco-friendly car such as a hybrid car and an electric car and, in particular, to a connector that may be used as a connecting portion of a power harness used for transmitting a large amount of power.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power harness is used for connecting between devices such as between a motor and an inverter or between an inverter and a battery in, e.g., a hybrid car or an electric car, which has made significant progress in recent years, for transmitting a large amount of power, and a connector in a two-divided structure composed of, e.g., a male connector portion provided with a male terminal as well as a first terminal housing for housing the male terminal and a female connector portion provided with a female terminal connected to the male terminal as well as a second terminal housing for housing the female terminal is provided to one end of the power harness (see, e.g., JP-A-2009-070754).
In recent years, all components in such an eco-friendly car have been reduced in weight to improve the energy saving performance, and one effective measure for reducing the weight may be downsizing.
For example, Japanese patent No. 4037199 discloses a downsizing technique.
Japanese patent No. 4037199 discloses an electric connection structure for vehicle in which connecting terminals of plural phases of conductive member led out from a vehicle driving motor are connected to connecting terminals of plural phases of power line cable led out from an inverter for driving the motor, a connecting terminal of each phase of the conductive member overlaps a corresponding connecting terminal of each phase of the power line cable, an insulating member is arranged on a surface opposite to an overlapping surface of the connecting terminals, and the overlapped connecting terminals of each phase are tightened and fixed to the insulating members in an overlapping direction by a single bolt provided at a position to penetrate therethrough.
In other words, Japanese patent No. 4037199 discloses the connection structure that the plural connecting terminals and the insulating members compose a laminated structure and the connecting terminals are fixed and electrically connected all together at contact points by tightening the single bolt in the overlapping direction (or the lamination direction) while the plural contact points between the connecting terminals as the overlapping surface thereof are sandwiched. The connection structure may be more effective than the technique of JP-A-2009-070754 in facilitating the downsizing.